Stepping to scholarships

“How many days do you have?”

“Two days of practice!”

Members of IU’s Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority responded to their coach as they prepared for Saturday’s competition at the Sprite Step Off national finals in Atlanta.

And it all started in September, four days before regional qualifiers were to be at IU. A mass e-mail was sent out to all members of Alpha Kappa Alpha stating that if they wanted to step, they should show up at Forest Quad that evening.

Ten women showed up and stayed.

During those four days, the women practiced in the basement of the quad starting at 9 p.m. and ending at 3 a.m.

The team placed first out of three teams, earning them $5,500, which is $550 split 10 ways, and a chance to compete in Chicago for the regional finals.

On Jan. 23, the team placed first out of four teams in Chicago, earning $21,500 and a trip to Atlanta to compete in the national finals.

“I think we all knew we’d get to Atlanta,” senior Shayla Hines said. “We just kind of told ourselves we’d make it, and it happened.”

Now the group has less than one day.

The women will board a plane at 2 p.m. Friday to compete against five other teams for the first place prize of $100,000. That money, $10,000 for each woman, will go directly to their Bursar accounts.

“Can we smile?” asks one sister during a practice Wednesday in a School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation racquetball room.

“Might as well, we’re having fun.”

“Well, none of that dumb cheese.”

Every step has to be right. Every clap has to be in unison. Every smile or serious look has to be perfected.

“No, no, none of that! None of that!” yells IU graduate James Bigsbee, the team’s coach and choreographer, as several of the women break into cheesy grins in the middle of a practice set.

Bigsbee is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, which has won the Little Five Step Show every year since 2006.

“They tell me what they want and I make up something, and they tweak it,” Bigsbee said. “I’ll do things they say are too masculine, and then they put in their own feminine touch.”

Bigsbee is at every practice, and he’ll be in Atlanta as well.

“When we’re being really catty, he’ll say ‘I know you’re all females but we got to do this,’” junior Jasmine Starks said.

The routine has a “Law and Order” theme with a video that plays in the background where Starks lip syncs some of the dialogue. The routine debuted at seven minutes when it was first performed at IU, but it’s now a 10-minute workout.

The women yell out chants throughout the performance, including spelling out “Tau,” which is their chapter, and yelling “This is a serious matter.”

At one point the women lined up, bent to a 90 degree angle, propped their right leg on their sister’s back and stepped on one foot.

“You can look pretty all you want,” Bigsbee yelled, “but you’ve got to make those steps.”

About an hour and fifteen minutes into practice, junior Aleah Bouie walked to the corner of the room, took off her boots and began to rub her right ankle. Last week, she said she thinks she tore a muscle in her foot.

Since she couldn’t make it through the entire practice, she sat in the corner, tapping her black sock-covered feet and clapping her hands on her yellow Victoria’s Secret sweatpants in unison with her sisters.

Both Bigsbee and Bouie agreed she will see a doctor on Monday, but right now she has to make it through Saturday.

“It hurts, but after a certain amount of time it’s just pain,” Bouie said. “It’s all for the team.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha is made of 38 women, and about 15 of them are planning to travel to Atlanta to watch their sisters.

Monday is also the one-year anniversary for the sorority to have a chapter on campus. If they win, it will be “amazing.”

“I’m gonna step like I’m not gonna lose,” Starks said.